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Doro Wett: A Flavorful, Unique Ethiopian Stew

by Sarah Kagan

on 07/29/10 at 05:03 PM

The latest installment in our Around the World in 80 Dishes series is doro wett, an Ethiopian chicken stew with a thick, spiced sauce. When I was working on this story, I was struck by a quote in chef Marcus Samuelsson's book New American Table, which focuses on immigrant cooking in America. "I've always thought that in America—where you have access to the highest-quality ingredients and great cooking supplies—you can often make ethnic food that actually tastes better than it does in its native country," writes Samuelsson. This is a bold statement, but it makes sense: These days, in most parts of the country, we can buy not only top-notch, fresh-from-the-farm produce, meat, and dairy, but also all the once-obscure seasonings required to produce authentic dishes from around the world. Case in point: berbere, the pungent spice mix that's a required element in many Ethiopian recipes, including doro wett. Our recipe (from Samuelsson) explains how to make it at home, but you can also easily order it from kalustyans.com, an indispensable source for many ethnic ingredients. (We often find ourselves linking to Kalustyans from Around the World in 80 Dishes articles.)

Do you like to cook less-known ethnic dishes? Do you agree with Samuelsson's statement—do you find it easy to get top-quality ethnic ingredients?

Over the last year I’ve really got into Ethiopian cooking. I make my own berbere seasoning in big batches so I can whip up a feast pretty fast. I’ve made so many wonderful dishes including Doro Wat, Yetakelt W’et Gomen, Misr Wat, the homemade cheese, Injera and much more. I love the wonderful flavors and eating all those veggies is really easy on the girlish figure too. I wish Epicurious would do more Ethiopian recipes.

mizk1 01:14:06 PM on 07/30/10

Here in Canada - at least in Ontario - the Toronto area, we have a lot of ethnic food stores and you can pretty well get anything - sometimes of a better quality you would get in the home country. I use that source a lot as I do a lot of ethnic cooking from a lot of countries - I like variety!

marykay2 09:36:38 AM on 07/30/10

I am fortunate to live in an area where great ethnic stores are nearby. In town we have a Hungarian store, a couple of Indian and Asian markets. I don't cook much unknown ethnic dishes but when I do, I know I can easily find the ingredients just a few miles away. I've noticed the supermarkets are enlarging their ethnic aisles and I can find items there now that I couldn't in the past.

AriPappas 01:12:44 AM on 07/30/10

@TheSoulCoach - I've seen it written both ways in various Ethiopian restaurants. It's worth noting that there are eighty-four indigenous languages in Ethiopia, and while Ethiopia has its own phonetic alphabet, pronunciations of common dishes are sure to vary wildly, and English spellings even moreso!

thesoulcoach 06:26:29 PM on 07/29/10

can't wait to try as this is on of my favorite dishes. My only question is I'm pretty sure it's called Doro Wat not Wet